Sadly, iPod girls will not get publicly berated by Judge Judy

In what is slowly snowballing into the Trial of the Century (and being only 2006, we can safely say the Trial of the Millennium), the dispute between the families of Shannon Derrick and Stephanie Eick over a stolen iPod will not, unfortunately, be resolved in the hallowed halls of Judge Judy's tough-but-fair courtroom. Amusingly, the plaintiff's mother originally saw the show as a quick way to resolve the matter on a level playing field, even though this whole incident could have been put to bed weeks ago had said mother not rejected a free iPod and associated swag donated by an anonymous do-gooder. As much as we'd love to hear JJ's take on this silly matter, since Eick's parents have been dropped from the suit and now only the piggybank of 14-year-old Stephanie is being pursued, it's up to her to approve a change of venue from Illinois to California. According to dad Steve, young Stephanie -- now a high school freshman -- doesn't want to go the Judy route because -- get this -- she'd have to miss two days of school and diving practice. (Who says kids these days lack ambition? When we were on the swim team, we would have given up our favorite pair of goggles to miss class and those grueling after-school torture sessions). Anyway, the next chapter in this saga will be played out on October 18th, when a DuPage County judge will attempt a last ditch effort at ending the debacle amicably through a settlement hearing. And after that? The high-profile case will most likely end up going to trial, and regardless of the final resolution, there's a good chance that Apple's legal team will swoop in and sue both families for besmirching the good name of their precious little cash cow.